Esoteric Door Knockers & Door Handles

"Some of these architectural and historic artefacts can be truly elaborate works of art, some possess hidden (arcane, esoteric) meaning, which often has to do with spiritual passages, or opening of magical doorways in the otherwise un-yeilding and uncaring world. Today we are going to see the most interesting, ornate, unexpected ones - send us more examples of these fascinating objects that you found around of world."
(See and read more on Dark Roasted Blend)

More Weird Houses

I want to thank you my good friend reggaepsyc who after seeing my post on 'Weird Shroom & Tree Houses' has pointed out to me another beautiful 'freak building'.
Vietnamese architect Dang Viet Nga's dream was to create a house like no other in the world. Situated in the city of Da Lat (Vietnam) the Crazy House was initially a personal project, not intended to be a hotel or a tourist destination. Once completed, its true potential became evident. It had cost a lot of money  and it was the financial burden of building and keeping up the house that led the creator to open it to the public as a guesthouse with ten themed apartments, each having an animal as its subject. Nga envisioned them as a homage to the various nationalities that stay there...
(If I remember well, Da Lat was a place well known for its psychedelic marijuana among American soldiers...If the local people keep the ancient tradition of growing the healing herb, it would be really nice to smoke a joint ant then visit or stay at the Crazy House...)

(click on pix to biggify)

Weird Shroom and Tree Houses

The Magic Mushroom House is a quite unconventional multi-level house of Aspen, Colorado (USA). It was designed in the 1970s by Andre Ulrich who was said to be under the influence of 'magic mushrooms' and occasionally Lsd while he designed and built it...When one talks of psychedelics and creativity...!

and now see the world's greatest tree-house built by one Horace
Burgess in Crossville, Tennesse (USA)
(tree.house via thepresurfer)  

Vintage Packets & Labels

The Dieline, "the world's #1 package design website", has a nice 'vintage' section, where you can find colorful marvels from the good times gone. Visit the site searching for 'vintage'. In the meantime see few beautiful examples of flower seed packets, matchbox and French labels below...

The History of the Typewriters

Martin Howard's collection of typewriters from the very beginning of typewriter industry (1880s and 1890s) is the largest of its kind in Canada and probably one of the most exhaustive in the world. Inspired by a post appeared on boingboing I made a visit to Howard's site, finding there a beautiful collection of rare and amazing typewriters (and ribbon tins), a brief history and an on-line shop with prints at reasonable prices.
Make a visit if interested (and click on images below to see in larger format...)

Extraordinary Paper Art

If you like the paper art shown below ( 1. Simon Schubert, 2. Peter Callesen, 3. and 4. Jen Stark), probably you'll also enjoy the other 95 Extraordinary Examples of Paper Art...

Shiroi Neko T-shirts

'Shiroi Neko' produces nice colorful t-shirts designed in Japan and handmade in Thailand. If you like these few 'samples', please visit shiroi neko to see more products, handmade designer t-shirts, hoodies, caps and longsleeves...

Coffin Sofa

Etsy seller VonErickson offers this coffin couch for $3500. It's available in purple, red, or black velvet. The lid closes too. Coffin Sofa
(via boingboing)

Strangest Handbags & Purses

12 funny and creative handbags and purses on unusual things.

(source)

Cardboard Bookcases

I bet you like this beatiful cardboard "yin-yang" bookcase. See more cardboard furniture creations here.

(source)

Smart, funny (and absolutely indispensable) things

In these times of crisis we have to presumably re-evaluate many of our own priorities and then cut off (or at least substantially diminish) the superfluous things. That said, I enjoy a lot finding funny, provocative and amazingly creative proposals like the following ones ( buying them effectively it's another matter...)
The Horse-head pillow, it's absolutely crazy. Evidently inspired by the famous scene in "The Godfather" movie, this macabre pillow can be found here

Absolutely smart and funny head-hoods graced by several images and famous people's photos (Obama, Elvis, Audrey Hepburn and others) Link

Beautiful (and quite expensive) "Jeever & Wooster" lamps, inspired by P.G. Woodehouse's novels and produced by Hidden Art

Creative Lunch Boxes

Funny, creative lunch boxes by designer Emma Smart. They fold out making a nice little place-settings.

(via boingboing)

Spaced Out

On Bruce Eisner's blog I found an interesting post about Spaced Out: Radical Environments of the Psychedelic Sixties, a book by Alastair Gordon which explores the ground-breaking visionary architecture of the '60s.




Wired Magazine, in their June 23, 2008 issue describes the book:
Through hundreds of groovy photos, Alastair Gordon's book explores the tripped-out buildings of the age of Aquarius. Spaced Out shows how ambitiously experimental, hallucinogenically colorful, and at times laughably impractical the designs were - from a waterbed prototype to a house that changed colors in response to human touch. Gordon, a New York Times contributor, highlights the technologies in use today that were pioneered during the era's kaleidoscopic revolution. Turn on, drop out, move in.

(Here you can visit Alaistar Gordon's blog)